RebtexUK Ltd builds new website
Rebtex UK Ltd has started construction of a new website for their sisal flooring products.68f7b64ef6294f519bdec9dcdb4b40cb
The site address is www.rebtexuk.com and it shows their flooring products and how they made from sustainable plant fibres. these flooring products are naturally stain inhibited and promote a healthy environment where ever they are installed.
Rebtex flooring can be installed in domestic locations but because of the superior sisal used in its construction the flooring is starting to find favour with interior designers and architects for use in commercial environments. It has recently been used in offices, restaurants, hotels and theatres.
Rebtex HB Kalahari
Year of the Natural Fibre 2009
Lets celebrate the Year of the natural fibre
Here are some reasons for celebrating the international Year of the natural fibre, we have let these industries down over the past few decades and they could be vital to our sustainable existence in the future. If we want a legacy of the world, for our children and even our great grand children now is the time to act to regenerate these agricultural industries, it will not only benefit us globally but will generate employment where it is badly needed, provide goods and also reduce emissions .
Lets give them some help by using products made from their products and help ourselves at the same time!
Reasons for using Rebtex sisal natural flooring
Rebtex is one of the largest spinner and weaver of sisal fibres in the southern hemisphere. The production facility is based in the centre of the fibre growing area of South Africa – a casual three hour drive north of Johannesburg (excellent four lane highway) – near the town of Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg).
A wide range of stain resistant natural flooring products are produced and marketed by Rebtex:
- Wall to wall sisal, coir, jute and seagrass for domestic applications.
- Rugs of any size from Sisal, Coir, Jute and Seagrass.
- Sisal floor tiles for commercial and Green building applications.
- Sisal Wall coverings for domestic and commercial applications.
- Natural sisal twines for agriculture, thatching and general packaging industries.
- Natural Entrance Matting made from Coir.
- Bio-degradeable geo-textiles for the civil engineering and landscaping industries.
- Sisal buffing cloth for the metal finishing industries.
Global warming has forced consumers and industry to develop environmental and sustainable floor solutions to every application. This process has developed a number of opportunities for natural alternative flooring products. The introduction of the Rebtex floor tile is one of the successful products that have evolved as an alternative to the synthetic and PVC products that have polluted this market for so many years.
The sisal products produced at Rebtex also have the advantage being more stain resistant than their competitors due to the Fibre guard process they developed and this is incorporated into all their natural flooring products.
These products are now available in the UK at these suppliers
As per the words of Albert Einstein: "The world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that created the situation".
A natural solution to every challenge is never more than a thought away.
Welcome to Rebtex!
© 2008 Rebtex
Tips To Keep That Carpet Clean
Even if a house is kept sparkling clean; a dull, dingy carpet will make it feel dirty and less of a home. Even worse than that is a clean carpet with a giant stain in the middle. Keeping your home looking great involves keeping your carpet looking great too. Here are a few tips to help your carpet look clean and inviting.
The common misconception is that the dirt comes from inside the house only 50% of that is true most of the dirt comes in from outside. it is tramped in by people and pets from outside. So if you can cut this influx of dirt you will not only keep your carpets cleaner but will also reduce your work load. By leaving out door shoes near the entrance and putting on slippers or going barefoot. What I always suggest to customers is a big barrier mat where shoes can be changed, it also gives you somewhere to clean the dogs paws if you have one, but with cats you are on your own! They like to do their own thing. You must create a barrier at each entrance to your property not just the front door.
Now that you have reduced the external dirt lets look at the inside. The best way to keep flooring looking good is to keep it clean with carpets this just means regular maintenance this means regular vacuum cleaner action at least once per week, if you allow the dirt to build up it will cause the fibres to mat together which in turn reduces the effectiveness of your vacuum cleaner. In the unlikely event of this happening you need to get in a professional cleaner which can open up the fibres by extracting the contaminants.
There are two extraction types of professional cleaners wet and dry, I have used both and whilst the wet systems give immediate appearance results because the colours are emphasised by the added moisture some of the dirt is washed down the fibres only to reappear shortly after due to a wick effect,the best method I have found is dry extraction which opens up the fibres sucks and out the dirt. The dry method is also the only way to clean natural fibre carpets and rugs. The dry system also is powerful enough to take out house dust mite and their deposits and uses a natural cleaning product for more soiled ad stained areas and the flooring is ready for immediate use.
For smooth flooring you should also vacuum regularly but most of the manufacturers supply or recommend products to protect restore and maintain the surface. But regular vacuuming is essential as it removes alleges and dust which can build up just as with a carpet, in some ways it is worse than a woven product which tends to act as a filter to hold contaminants at floor level until they are removed. With smooth floors are easily swirled rooms air, which can affect people with asthma or other respiratory problems.
When it comes to stain removal prevention is better than crime, but accidents will always happen so blot up spills Never Scrub or Rub, and if you need to consult a list antidotes. Each stain has remedies but the rule to follow is little and often if it is a large stain don’t try to remove it all at once, concentrate on a small area first to make sure you are actually cleaning and then expand until you have dealt with the whole thing. some stains it is better to work on over a period of time allowing drying periods between.
If the stain is to bad then the only recourse is the insurance company!
Natural Flooring
Natural Flooring
South African produced Sisal Flooring Products
Hi,
My user name is coircat because I enjoy flying on flight sim programs and the first one I went on generated the name as my call sign and anyway I like it.
the picture above is taken from our company choir dvd which I hope will be on you tube soon but here is a shot of the Choir
Choir in action in the factory
The Choir put this show on in the factory for the Archbishop of York because he used some of Rebtex Heavy boucle’ Sisals for his office and residence. You can see Rebtex products at www.rebtex.net and www.rebtex.co.za here is a sample of the heavy boucle’ sisal natural flooring
sisal fitted on stairs
Sisal is a very hardwearing product and is ideal for floorcovers here you can see it fitted onto a hall stair and landing and Rebtex is doublely so because it is stain-resistant. This alternative flooring to conventional carpeting is easily maintained and is made from totally sustainable plant based products
if you wish to see how it is made visit http://www.sisal4u.com there are links there to suppliers and how sisal is making a comeback.
I will add more later.
November 8, 2008 – Posted by coircat | natural flooring | alternative flooring, natural carpet, natural flooring, sisal | No Comments Yet
The green way takes a little effort
Here is the link for the owner of this picture#
I will be quite honest with you I sell flooring and my family have been in the business since the early 1950 I hate to think how much flooring we have installed over those years between us. It must run into hundreds of thousands of square metres,never realising what problems we could be storing up for the world. Millions of square metres are laid each year, the majority of which come from synthetic material sources, all of these pollute the atmosphere either as a result of their production processes or transporting them across country, Then when installed they give off gases which contain VOCs none of which do us any good. Then at the end of its working life it has to be disposed of usually in landfill where they can give off more toxic substances.
At last the trade is coming round to to realising its short comings in the scheme of things. But is planting trees to offset production processing the correct solution to the problem.we are still eventually using landfill to dispose of synthetic products and even if you reduce water and air bourn pollutants by 10,15 or 40% you are still producing them.
Fortunately there is growing concern in all sectors of the flooring market and architects , specifiers, commercial and domestic customers are aware of these problems and are moving towards natural products maybe for their own or family health reasons. There have been many instances were respiratory and allergy problems have been attributed to flooring products.
That was why in the mid 1980’s we started our move into natural flooring by installing natural fibres and other plant based flooring
, it all is eco friendly hardwearing and keeps its appearance better than “man made flooring”.
If you like me would like to take a few small steps to doing your bit for the planet consider your flooring as a way to cutting down your carbon footprint.
Installing natural flooring products
Whilst do it yourself installation of some floorings is possible I have seen some real disasters when it comes to the DIY installation of natural flooring. This is because unlike many of the traditional flooring materials which are “man made” the natural products by their derivation are natural. In their normal habit they have to cope with changes in humidity and temperature and they continue to do this even when they have been made into flooring.
This is especially true of natural fibre flooring although it must also be considered with any natural flooring as most of them are derived from plant based sources. Whether it be sisal rubber or wood they all change with the ambient conditions so it is much better to use an installer who is used to working with these types of materials, and has developed a feel for them, as the properties can change from batch to batch.
One of the most stunning products is seagrass a natural fibre which is woven into flooring or used in the making of furniture it is a good low cost product but on flooring the location and type of usage must be taken into consideration before installing . In the adjacent picture seagrass has been fitted on a staircase as it was not to be heavily used. The white decoration blends well with the flooring.
If the stair was going to be a heavily trafficked area we would have recommended a more robust product such as sisal.
The four most popular fibres used are jute,seagrass, coir and sisal. jute being the least hard wearing then seagrass ,coir and the strongest being sisal.
The natural movement is not just restricted to fibre products rubber ,linoleum and wood all expand and contract with changes in humidity and temperature so this all has to be considered when installing them. Some instructions say let the product acclimatise for 48 hours but dependent on the product this may be to short a period, for instance the combination of site conditions and location may result in up to 2 years passing before the product is stablelised.
All sorts of factors can create problems for you damp from burst pipes or a large expanse of water near your home or new building work in the house must be taken into consideration.
In these pictures seagrass is being installed on a concrete floor using an advanced polymer underlay for extra comfort under foot and the added padding also increases the life span of the product. To remain totally eco friendly we could have used a wool felt underlay.
Trying to sell your house
With the current conditions in the home market, householders trying to sell their properties want an advantage, something that puts their home at the top of potential buyer’s lists. There are some fairly inexpensive options for doing this, for example installing new windows or new flooring across the home. For the homeowner on a tight budget, the second option is going to be the best bet for catching the eye of potential buyers. When asked, a large amount of house buyers make it clear that new flooring is one of the features they look for. However, before making any firm plans it’s important to analyze the prevailing home purchasers trends.
There are trends in what people look for in new home, and what may be popular one year would possibly not be popular a few years later. Take some time to research house buyers trends, and what’s currently favoured in flooring. Right now soft earth tones are in demand ; as an example, natural carpet would make a good selection, as would neutral tans and browns. If a home-owner were to keep on researching current homebuyer trends, he or she would also learn that buyers are presently trying to find wood floors or smooth surfaces such as marmoleum and rubber , with carpet being limited to areas such as bedrooms. With this in mind, consider which areas of your house to install carpet, and which areas to install the smooth floors. We have however noticed a trend to completely fitting the house with smooth floors such as rubber and linoleum which give a clean and easily maintained floor surface throughout the house.
A good choice for smooth flooring would be in the main living areas, eg. the kitchen, dining room, and living room.. If you decide to install new flooring throughout your complete home, consider finding a company that specializes both in carpet and smooth floors, so that the complete job can be done by one company. There’s a good chance that you are going to qualify for discounts by doing the whole house.
Now remember, following homebuyers trends is only half of the battle. While your home could have the features home purchasers are presently searching for, display is important. When showing your house, be sure that it is always clean and well-maintained, in and out. New area rugs are a good idea for smooth flooring, as are interesting, neutral decorative pieces for each room. You need to present potential house purchasers with how engaging your home looks, while still giving them that it would be easy for them to make it their own.
.
flooring naturally
For many years my family has been involved in the flooring market mainly in the fitting side, in fact we are now into our third generation and working on the fourth. but we started in the traditional carpeting and smooth flooring fields.My father was one of the last upholsterer/ carpet fitters employed by the Co-op. But by the mid 1960′s he had his own fitting business.
I trained as an engineer but started my own flooring business in 1978 and through various turn of events started fitting Natural Fibre floor coverings in the mid eighties. I have to say they were not the trade’s favourite product at that time being both difficult to handle and install.
This was mainly due to the knowledge of how to install and handle them had been lost. Also when it was previously used it was more like ly to be in the form of a rug rather than fitted. so in the mid eighties it was a case of experimenting with the best way to install these "New" products .
The first product we had to contend with was Coir made from the fibres found around the nut of the coconut to day it is stilll the most economical and will give a good service life depending on under what conditions it has to work. When we first started fitting it we were unaware of its instability due to our humid conditions in this country especially in the North and on high ground. As you can see from a staircase we fitted coir can give a stuuning effect even though it has a rustic appearance.
If you have large areas which need to be covered coir is probably the most cost effective, although I would say you are limited to choice as there are only a few serviceable patterns and colour is limited to bleached and natural. attempts have been made to colour it but eventually it reverts to it’s natural colour.
This property is however an advantage if you think about it,because staining in only a form of dyeing and if it won’t hold a dye what chance a stain, it will stain but eventually the mark will fade.
Next on the scene was Seagrass and this made an impact, it is not as hard wearing as some natural fibres but it does give a stunning and clean appearance it is probably the closest broadloom product you can get to wood in characteristics.. When it is first installed it it is a
- Seagrass makes furniture stand out
hay greenish colour but as it matures and dries out it turns to a mellow straw colour.
Like all Natural fibre flooring it is extremely easy to maintain and again given time stains just fade away all you really need to do is vacuum it regularly and remove spills immediately.
If you want to make a feature of an item of furniture or to emphasize decor then seagrass is the way to go. Immediately it transforms the aspect of any room without detracting from the feature you wish to exhibit. It gives a subtle ground that does not offend the eye allowing you to appreciate the target items.
Like the coir it is an economic variety of natural flooring but if fitted correctly can lift a rooms appearance.
The final and most common natural fibre floor cover used is Sisal which has to king amongst the natural products, whilst it tends to be in a higher price point what you get is a much more resilient cover (virtually indestructible) which has all the attributes of the other fibres,but is very hard wearing in comparison to them. Unlike the previous two products comes in a myriad of weaves and colours , although in practice the most popular are still the natural colours.
Although in the main sisal has been used in domestic locations, now its hardwearing characteristics are becoming appreciated by the commecial sector.
It is not just its wear properties that they like because it is a plant based product it also helps with their eco credentials which they have to consider nowadays. As the base product comes from a plant there is no petroleum based fibres in it and there is no chance of VOC’s(volatile organic compounds) which are attributed with causing alsorts of health related problems.
- A typical sisal plant!
As you can see from the picture sisal is a leafy plant the fronds are about 2metres long and when decorticated (removing all the pulp) give the natural fibres to be made int various products including flooring.
If you want more information about these products please go to one of my other sites where ther is much more information..
My Shop is in Heaton Chapel, Stockport and you can see all the natural products we supply.
Natural Floors NW Ltd
- sisal stair cover
We also import Rebtex Sisal which is very special have a look at their sites.
If you wish to contact me direct my e-mail is david@rebtex.net
Natural flooring
For many years my family has been involved in the flooring market mainly in the fitting side, in fact we are now into our third generation and working on the fourth. but we started in the traditional carpeting and smooth flooring fields.My father was one of the last upholsterer/ carpet fitters employed by the Co-op. But by the mid 1960′s he had his own fitting business.
I trained as an engineer but started my own flooring business in 1978 and through various turn of events started fitting Natural Fibre floor coverings in the mid eighties. I have to say they were not the trade’s favourite product at that time being both difficult to handle and install.
This was mainly due to the knowledge of how to install and handle them had been lost. Also when it was previously used it was more like ly to be in the form of a rug rather than fitted. so in the mid eighties it was a case of experimenting with the best way to install these “New” products .
The first product we had to contend with was Coir made from the fibres found around the nut of the coconut to day it is stilll the most economical and will give a good service life depending on under what conditions it has to work. When we first started fitting it we were unaware of its instability due to our humid conditions in this country especially in the North and on high ground. As you can see from a staircase we fitted coir can give a stuuning effect even though it has a rustic appearance.
If you have large areas which need to be covered coir is probably the most cost effective, although I would say you are limited to choice as there are only a few serviceable patterns and colour is limited to bleached and natural. attempts have been made to colour it but eventually it reverts to it’s natural colour.
This property is however an advantage if you think about it,because staining in only a form of dyeing and if it won’t hold a dye what chance a stain, it will stain but eventually the mark will fade.
Next on the scene was Seagrass and this made an impact, it is not as hard wearing as some natural fibres but it does give a stunning and clean appearance it is probably the closest broadloom product you can get to wood in characteristics.. When it is first installed it it is a
- Seagrass makes furniture stand out
hay greenish colour but as it matures and dries out it turns to a mellow straw colour.
Like all Natural fibre flooring it is extremely easy to maintain and again given time stains just fade away all you really need to do is vacuum it regularly and remove spills immediately.
If you want to make a feature of an item of furniture or to emphasize decor then seagrass is the way to go. Immediately it transforms the aspect of any room without detracting from the feature you wish to exhibit. It gives a subtle ground that does not offend the eye allowing you to appreciate the target items.
Like the coir it is an economic variety of natural flooring but if fitted correctly can lift a rooms appearance.
The final and most common natural fibre floor cover used is Sisal which has to king amongst the natural products, whilst it tends to be in a higher price point what you get is a much more resilient cover (virtually indestructible) which has all the attributes of the other fibres,but is very hard wearing in comparison to them. Unlike the previous two products comes in a myriad of weaves and colours , although in practice the most popular are still the natural colours.
Although in the main sisal has been used in domestic locations, now its hardwearing characteristics are becoming appreciated by the commecial sector.
It is not just its wear properties that they like because it is a plant based product it also helps with their eco credentials which they have to consider nowadays. As the base product comes from a plant there is no petroleum based fibres in it and there is no chance of VOC’s(volatile organic compounds) which are attributed with causing alsorts of health related problems.
- A typical sisal plant!
As you can see from the picture sisal is a leafy plant the fronds are about 2metres long and when decorticated (removing all the pulp) give the natural fibres to be made int various products including flooring.
If you want more information about these products please go to one of my other sites where ther is much more information..
My Shop is in Heaton Chapel, Stockport and you can see all the natural products we supply.
- sisal stair cover
We also import Rebtex Sisal which is very special have a look at their sites.
If you wish to contact me direct my e-mail is david@authenticnaturalflooringcompany.co.uk
